Tag: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

So yeah, Punkbuster is still a thing. I had this weird issue while playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 where suddenly every server would instantly reject connection with the message “you need to have punkbuster installed and running…”

I kinda played a lot of Battlefield 2, so when I heard Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was coming to the PC this time, of course I was interested in how the Bad Company subtitle would affect the multiplayer aspect. I’ve had a few hours with it now and have already come to appreciate the refocusing of the classes, making each one useful in more than a couple of scenarios. The support and spec ops kits are gone and have had their varying attributes spread across other kits to make them more meaningful. This feels like a sensible change, especially since this game is focused on a lower player count.

Where kit balance has been well thought out, I feel like the progression has lost its way a little. The number of available unlocks is numerous and varied, but includes items that are key to the successful functioning of some kits. For example, one must accrue a number of points as the medic before even being able to heal other members of the team, let alone revive fallen teammates. I can only imagine this direction was taken in order to slowly introduce new players to all the features of each kit, but for those who already have some familiarity with class-based shooters, it just becomes a frustration and leads to those classes being ignored in favor of classes that can shoot dudes better. This might not have been so bad if there had been a way to unlock features across kits without essentially grinding them out, but again, if the key features of kits like the medic or engineer were available from the beginning, this wouldn’t be an issue.

Besides this, I’m just getting used to the little differences in the way things handle: the inability to go prone, tanks not having a driver machine gun, no rockets on APCs, no camera missile on choppers, no ability to change firing mode. Some things have clearly been changed for balance reasons; choppers could absolutely dominate in Battlefield 2, so making them less of a threat was probably a sensible move, even if it does make me a little nostalgic for the old MEC fat-choppers from Battlefield 2. In addition, a lot of the changes are there to streamline the experience for consoles, which is not always a bad thing (look at how Valve streamlined the Team Fortress 2 experience), though I would like a few more options about how I can control the game; not being able to change the toggle aiming and not being able to invert the flying independent of UAV controls has really messed me up more than a few times.

In the end, I think a lot of gripes I may have with the multiplayer exist because I spent so much time with Battlefield 2. The extent of progression and unlocks will keep me coming back for a good long while yet. However, I still can’t help but look forward to what Battlefield 3 will bring to the franchise for the PC crowd.

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Web developer and avid gamer. If I'm not writing about one, I'll be writing about the other, except on the occasion I'll be writing about something else, in which case you can expect just about anything!